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Michael Den Tandt & Dawn Walton, Globe & Mail, 26 May 06
OTTAWA, CALGARY - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has contradicted Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor on whether the government consulted the families of four fallen Canadian soldiers before it banned the news media from covering their return home last month.
Corporal Matthew Dinning, Lieutenant William Turner, Bombardier Myles Mansell and Corporal Randy Payne were killed in a roadside bombing north of Kandahar in late April. Members of the news media were not allowed on CFB Trenton when their bodies were returned to Canada on April 25, and the government said at that time that the ban would apply to future repatriation ceremonies as well.
On Wednesday, Mr. Harper told CFPL-TV in an interview, when asked about the repatriation of the four soldiers: "The DND spoke to the families and not all the families were in agreement, and on that particular occasion on the arrival of the casket unless all the families want it open, it is a private time." However, on the day the four coffins were brought back, Mr. O'Connor said the families were not consulted. "No they weren't consulted," he said then. "We're trying to, I'm trying to bring in a policy that covers all families for all events." At a news conference in British Columbia yesterday, Mr. Harper was asked to clarify his earlier suggestion that families were consulted.
"I think I was asked about a specific return recently, and I was aware that the families had different views and that was my comment on that," he said.
The news media were also excluded from repatriation ceremonies for the most recent Canadian soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan, Captain Nichola Goddard. Some time after her funeral in Calgary today, Capt. Goddard is to be buried at the National Military Cemetery.
The mother of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan says she told Mr. Harper that the return of fallen soldiers' bodies should be accessible to the public, but was told that "people have to stop focusing on how many people are being killed." Jane Wilson, mother of Master Corporal Timothy Wilson, who died in March from injuries suffered in a vehicle accident in Kandahar, said the exchange with the Prime Minister occurred face-to-face at a meeting in Ottawa. She could not recall the date, she said yesterday.
"It was like, we have to stop focusing on that part of it," she said. "To me, that has nothing to do with it. I think it has to do with respect to be shown to our military." The repatriation of the bodies of M. Cpl. Wilson and Cpl. Paul Davis at CFB Trenton, which took place March 5, was accessible to the news media.
"The repatriation ceremony when Paul and Tim came home was nothing but respectful and dignified," Ms. Wilson said. "I had no idea the media were even there . . . I think it's wrong. I think the repatriation should be televised." Mr. Harper again refused to back away from the news media ban yesterday. As he has in the past, the Prime Minister suggested that the policy was introduced in deference to the wishes of military families for privacy. "It's particularly a terrible thing for the loved ones and if they want to open or not open their funerals, or if they want some privacy when the bodies arrive, my view is that's their right." He added: "I don't think they should have to explain their position to the media or anybody else at those moments." Sources have told The Globe and Mail that the new policy originated in the Prime Minister's Office, not the Defence Department, and that its motivation was primarily political. PMO officials have denied this.
Ms. Wilson and two other parents of fallen Canadian soldiers said yesterday that they believe the public should at least be able to view the ceremonies on television, so that they can honour the fallen soldier and share in his or her family's grief.
"When my son was brought home, I found it very comforting to know that the nation was sending their condolences and grieving along with me," said James Davis, Cpl. Davis's father. "I found it very comforting." Mr. Davis said he believes that Mr. Harper was "a bit reckless" in the decision to ban the news media. "I think he was moving too quickly on that. I think he probably thought he would follow along the lines of what the United States is trying to do -- downplay the sad part of war." Cpl. Payne's father, Dave, said he has mixed emotions about the issue. "I like the fact that we were left alone," he said of the repatriation ceremony for his son at CFB Trenton. "I also like the fact the rest of the country should be able to see him, but without the media presence in the faces of the families." Mr. Payne is a 30-year veteran of the military. His son, who was part of an elite Canadian security detail when he was killed, was 32 years old.
Mr. Payne said he appreciated that cameras and reporters weren't allowed near the families in their time of mourning.
But he added that the occasion was missing something for Canadians.
"I would have liked it to have had clearer pictures. Allow the cameras access to it, but just separate them," he said.
Both Ms. Wilson and Mr. Davis expressed strong support for the military deployment in Afghanistan. And both said that allowing public viewing of repatriation ceremonies should not detract in any way from public support for the mission. Canadians have a right to participate in the ceremonies, if only by proxy through the news media, they said.